2009 Indianapolis MotoGP QP Result - Pole Record Destroyed In Display Of Domination

Submitted by David Emmett on Sat, 2009-08-29 18:59

Results and summary of qualifying for the MotoGP class:

Dani Pedrosa took pole for tomorrow's Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP race with yet another display of total domination. Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo had set the early pace, putting in a long run of fast laps in the mid-1'40s, but just after the halfway mark, Dani Pedrosa struck back, and the Repsol Honda rider never relinquished the lead again for the rest of the session. He first broke the pole record set a few laps earlier by Jorge Lorenzo, then went on to destroy it completely, setting a time of 1'40.105 with three minutes to go, and on the next lap he took nearly four tenths of his previous time, setting a new pole record of 1'39.730.

Jorge Lorenzo will start from 2nd on the grid, but his deficit to Pedrosa belies his race pace. The Spaniard is clearly capable of running fast and constant lap times, and will be hard to beat. The final spot on the front row falls to Valentino Rossi, though the Italian had to wait until his very last lap to get there. He spent most of the session in 4th place, behind Alex de Angelis, who has been completely unleashed this weekend at Indianapolis. The man from San Marino will start the race from 4th on the grid, after his Rossi-forced demotion.

De Angelis heads up a pair of home racers, Colin Edwards finishing in 5th ahead of Nicky Hayden, showing good progress on the Ducati. Toni Elias heads up the third row, directly behind his Gresini Honda team mate and despite a crash early on. Andrea Dovizioso lost a lot of time to a crash, falling off on the back straight, the furthest away from the pits that you can get, and with the new cutoff systems fitted to save an engine in the event of a crash, Dovi was forced to try and bump start the bike, a tall order on the lush grass that surrounds the infield. Once back in the pits, Dovi was good enough for 8th fastest. Marco Melandri sits on the outside of the third row in 9th, while James Toseland rounds out the top 10, with a late run of fast laps.